On Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:43:59 -0700 (PDT), lagagnon
wrote:

I am about to refurbish an old Hy-Gain TH3-Mk3 Thunderbird tri-band
yagi. This yagi has been used in a coastal environment and thus the
aluminum is slightly pitted and most of the connecting hardware needs
replacing.

I figure steel wool would work fine for the aluminum tubing, I know
how to test the traps, but I am wondering whether to use stainless
steel or galvanized hardware? Which would react least over time with
the aluminum? Also, I remember many years ago there is an electrical
joint compound stuff for using between the tubing sleeves - can anyone
please give me some brand names of this stuff?

Any other ideas appreciated....

Larry VE7EA

I just called Bencher/Butternut about my aluminun vertical and they
suggested NOT using steel wool for cleaning because the residue
of the steel wool rusts very easily. I know this is true from my boat
where we generally use bronze wool to avoid rust. The steel wool sheds
(and I know this from hard experience) as a bear to clean out of
stuff, such as the deck of my boat. The Butternut guy suggest that
rather than steel wool use either emery paper or a Scotchbright pad as
they do not leave residue. Butternut also has a conductive grease that
they provide with their antennas to keep the metal to metal joints
conductive. Steel wool residue can also cause bimetalic corrosion with
aluminum.

Most assuredly use stainless steel fitting and screws. Ordinary
screws/nuts will rust very rabidly. Any boat owner knows that
many so-called compression clamps, allegedly in stainless, do not have
stainless bolts to tighten them. Most of us take a magnet to the
boating store to ensure we got the right things. BTW a boating store
is generally a pretty good place to get stainless steel hardware. They
know that a boat owner will scream bloody murder and besmirch their
reputation if they sell anything but the top quality stuff. We ran one
boating store out of town for selling shoddy stuff.

I'm embarking on exactly the same rebuild on my Butternut vertical so
I just talked to the factory specialist on this very subject just last
week. My spare parts just arrived yesterday. I'm rebuilding because
after 25 years, the wind flexed the tube that mount the antenna, a
vertical, into the ground. I guess that is not too bad service for
this antenna.

Jon Teske, W3JT
Maryland